Hydrocarbon fluids such as oil and natural gas are obtained from a subterranean geologic formation, referred to as a reservoir, by drilling a well that penetrates the hydrocarbon-bearing formation. Once a wellbore is drilled, various forms of well completion components may be installed in order to control and enhance the efficiency of producing the various fluids from the reservoir.
During production of hydrocarbon fluids from a well, it is sometimes helpful to temporarily isolate different zones of a well using an isolation component. Zones are linear sections of a well that may be at different depths. One commonly used isolation component is a slurry including a cement binder, filler materials such as sand and an aggregate such as pea gravel, and one or more fluids. The slurry is pumped down into a predetermined location within a well and the slurry is hardened to form concrete which creates an isolation component within the well. A tool such as a bridgeplug is also used as an isolation component. The bridge plug is lowered into the well to a predetermined location and the bridgeplug is actuated to create a seal that prevents fluids and gases from traversing along the length of the well.
Once the isolation component is in place, operations are performed on the isolated section of the well. For example, hydraulic fracturing may be employed to modify the production of the well in the isolated zone. Once the operations are complete, the isolation component is removed. Zone isolation may be used repeatedly to modify the production of the well.